Educate me....

If a guy stores it for say, 10 years.....what should I do to store it?
I have a unopen 5gallon can of vp that's getting close . Really you should sell it after a year and buy new . Tight metal can with very little air space sealed well off the concrete floor is next best thing . If you already have 10 year old
EC always said strain it through a chamois too sperate the water out .
For a modified flathead straight out of the can . Top end oil if you feel the need .
 
I have a unopen 5gallon can of vp that's getting close . Really you should sell it after a year and buy new . Tight metal can with very little air space sealed well off the concrete floor is next best thing . If you already have 10 year old
EC always said strain it through a chamois too seperate the water out .
For a modified flathead straight out of the can . Top end oil if you feel the need .
Whoops, I meant storing a Methanol Engine.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Whoops, I meant storing a Methanol Engine.
From what I know of my micro stuff, drain the carbs, clear the whole fuel system with gas and let it dry. Drain all fluids and put in fresh, seal over all openings and put on a shelf thats cool and dry. To get it back going, drain all the fluids and replace, then purge the fuel system, and fire it up. Let it build heat at a higher idle than normal but nothing crazy, once up to temp, let er rip.
 
From what I know of my micro stuff, drain the carbs, clear the whole fuel system with gas and let it dry. Drain all fluids and put in fresh, seal over all openings and put on a shelf thats cool and dry. To get it back going, drain all the fluids and replace, then purge the fuel system, and fire it up. Let it build heat at a higher idle than normal but nothing crazy, once up to temp, let er rip.
I was givin a flathead alcohol motor not to long ago and draining all the fluids is important. Alcohol got inside the block and was in there for more than 13 years. The inside of the motor looked horrible. I will find a pic and post it when I get home.
 
storing a engine for ten years is alittle bit of a crap shoot .
i have had them rust up and some no issue's .
the 2 stroke stuff seems to survive better .
drained fluids and fresh or no oil seem best . fogging oil can't hurt .
the crankcase is the biggest problem.
the enviromental condition has a big influence .
 
The alcohol molecule has a oxygen atom connected to one hydrogen atom. I don't know the word for it but, the oxygen atom wants to connect with 2 hydrogen atoms. It then becomes H2O, "water". So you see, alcohol does not attract water, it becomes water when exposed to the hydrogen atom, the most common atom in the universe.

That's how it was explained to me by a chemist friend of mine almost 50 years ago. Go to Wikipedia, they have a picture of the hydrogen atom and you can see it's made up, in part, of one oxygen atom connected to one hydrogen atom. It kind of explains why there's so much water in the world.
Al Your friend is correct. It is called Covalent bonding.
 
We ran methanol in our flathead karts for about 3 years. I don’t remember the jet size, but that was also in restricted class. We did have to jet them up a lot. All I did at the end of the night on the flatheads was drain the tanks then run the engine until they ran out and died. Those carbs we never flushed with gas or oil we just ran then dry. Ran for 3 years like that without a problem. Now we run it in a 600 sprint running a Yamaha R6. It is different with the rubber float needles and rubber gaskets. I have always just flushed with regular gas. I have a tee in the fuel line. I connect a nurse bottle to the fuel line, shut off the main fuel supplying alcohol and run until the gas gets cycled in. You can tell by the smell and the sound of the engine. I do this within a few hours after the race ends. I always take the carbs apart every week within a day or two of the races and clean them so I don’t worry about the gas in the bowls. One time I ran it in the shop. I pulled the carbs apart and cleaned them with gumout carb cleaner. I think it was a reaction to the alcohol mixed with carb cleaner but the float needle seals deformed. I may be wrong but I think alcohol is not as explosive as gas. Throw a cup of gas on the ground and a cup of methanol and put fire to them. The gas will flame up faster. I think it is more of a push on the piston instead of an explosive hammer on the piston. Comparable to a black powder rifle compared to a cartridge rifle, When we were using it in the Flatheads the spark plugs stayed cleaner and the head did not carbon up as bad.
 
We ran methanol in our flathead karts for about 3 years. I don’t remember the jet size, but that was also in restricted class. We did have to jet them up a lot. All I did at the end of the night on the flatheads was drain the tanks then run the engine until they ran out and died. Those carbs we never flushed with gas or oil we just ran then dry. Ran for 3 years like that without a problem.
How often did you change the Oil?
 
We changed oil every 2 nights racing. The track we were racing ran 5 hot laps one heat race and one feature race. On the 600 I change every 3 nights.
 
Just wondering if what the Meth did to it was easy enough to clean-up, or was/is the Block ruined?
My take is the methanol in the carb is the worst . The oil type along with long term storage with old oil is the problem . Depending on the oil it gets rusty and sometimes kinda gooy . There can be some erosion type pitting after years of no care . I never really had a issue on the stuff we raced only what I let sit with dirty old oil . Long term storage you need a different mind set . Storage with out oil could be better then with .
 
Methanol appears to evaporate pretty fast, and when exposed to air, it turns to water, aluminum corrodes in water, maybe that was the problem.
 
IMG_2138.jpg
IMG_2137.jpg

The last time this motor was ran was before I was born. I know it has sat for more than 15 years and I am 14 right now.
You can see where i really worked to clean a small protion inside the motor, i cleaned it with different aerosol stuff and some rags and scotch brite
 
Back
Top